DECATUR, Miss. - There is a reason that the Northeast Mississippi Community College football program goes through special teams drills at essentially every single practice session.
The Tigers excelled in each facet on that unit in a 24-13 season-opening road triumph over defending south division champion East Central Community College on Thursday, August 28 at Bailey Stadium.
Northeast blocked three punts while its coverage unit forced the Warriors to start new drives on average at their own 27-yard line in the second half. Freddy Lopez also connected on his first field goal of the season from 28 yards out and was perfect on extra points.
Tre'Marcus Webb put the exclamation point on the outstanding effort by the Tigers' special teams. He returned a punt 64 yards untouched for a touchdown with 11:44 remaining in the game to account for Northeast's final margin of victory.
"That was so great," Webb said. "I just made a play today. Coach Cole (Rotenberry) always says see a hole, hit a hole. That felt like heaven. I'm just happy we got a team win."
The Tigers (1-0) were superb on defense as well. East Central was limited to negative 10 rushing yards thanks in part to five Northeast sacks and converted only two third downs in 14 attempts overall.
"The defensive line production a year ago was down, but it was way up tonight," said Northeast head coach Greg Davis. "A lot of that has to do with the secondary and linebackers getting in zones and covering people up. We got pressure on the quarterback and made them one dimensional."
Tyrese Cathey had two of those sacks to guide the Tigers' defensive front. His first pushed the Warriors back to midfield just before the conclusion of the third period while the second all but brought their next-to-last possession to an end.
"It feels pretty good because of how much work we put in before the season," said Cathey. "Last year, we didn't get the sacks and the tackles we wanted so this year we want to get off the ball and make a play. We just came out and executed, that's all."
Both teams exchanged touchdowns during the opening quarter. Dylan Lewis, who took his first offensive snaps since the prep level after serving as a backup linebacker last season, recorded Northeast's inaugural score of the new year on a two-yard dash at the 2:36 mark.
Qua Middlebrooks gave the Tigers a lead they did not relinquish on the initial play of the second quarter with an 11-yard touchdown run. It was setup by the first of two punt blocks from Jackson Parker.
Zay Hubbard had the other block late in the third. Trevor Walton reeled in the first turnover of the season with an interception on the third drive of the contest for East Central (0-1).
Jeremiah Harrell completed 12 of 22 passes for 113 yards to pace Northeast offensively. Middlebrooks topped all Tigers with 93 all-purpose yards, including 57 yards on the ground with 17 carries.
Ryan McCall started his sophomore campaign with a team-best nine tackles, including two of them for loss. The Tigers had nine total quarterback hurries on the evening with Rickey Banks registering two of them.
"I think our kids were excited, motivated and they were ready to play," Davis said. "I told them before we went out there that I believe we're going to win this game and I believe in them. Obviously, it came to fruition."
Northeast has one more tune-up before beginning the division portion of its schedule on Thursday, September 4 at Southwest Mississippi Community College. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at John I. Hurst Stadium in Summit.